05/08/2024
“The Last Visit of Jadwiga and Wilhelm in the Refectory of the Franciscan Church in Krakow” by Florian Cynk, 1869.
... There was one more issue left, that is, Jadwiga's consent to the marriage. The Polish queen3 was against the marriage with Jagiełło. First of all, she was aware of the fact that she was engaged to Wilhelm, who was certainly closer to her due to the small age difference. Jagiełło was at least eleven years older than her, but the difference could be as much as twenty-two years. Jogaila was born between 1352 and 1362, and Jadwiga between 1373 and 1374. Meanwhile, William was born in 1370.
However, Elizabeth, persuaded by Archduke Leopold III of Austria, changed her mind and gave permission for Hedwig and William to consummate the marriage. Then, according to Długosz, William was to go to Kraków in order to consummate his marriage to Jadwiga. As Długosz writes: "Wanting to fulfill her father's order, she was also captivated by the virtues of a noble young man, and she ardently wanted to marry the one she knew well rather than an unknown and never seen barbarian." The administrator of the Wawel Castle, Dobiesław of Kurowzęki, forbade William to enter Wawel. Therefore, Jadwiga began to leave the castle to meet William. Joint games and dances were to take place in the monastery of St. Francis. Jadwiga, knowing that Jagiełło would soon appear in Kraków to marry her, decided on 24 August to complete her relationship with William.
According to Długosz, the events took a dramatic course:
"However, when [William] was brought to the royal castle, to the bedchamber, to learn the secrets of the bed with Queen Jadwiga, he was removed in a disgraceful and insulting way and expelled both from the castle and from the bedroom and was not allowed to perform the marriage with the said queen at all. And Queen Jadwiga, offended by William's removal from the castle, intended to go down to the city to visit him. And when, by the efforts and orders of the masters, she found the gates closed, she tried to break them down with her own hands with an axe, which was given to her at the request of the lords. In the end, however, yielding to the requests of the knight Dmitri of Goraj, she abandoned the enterprise. And Prince Wilhelm, fearing that they would kill or injure him, fled from Cracow secretly."
However, some historians consider this description of Długosz to be his literary device intended to make the case of Jadwiga and Wilhelm's engagement a more attractive story. Therefore, he added romantic threads of his own. Meanwhile, according to these historians, William hastened to Krakow to consummate the marriage, but he was detained at the border. It is difficult not to agree with them, because allowing Jagiełło and William to meet at a time when the matter of her marriage with Jagiełło had already been decided, would be a blatant naivety of the Polish lords.
https://maidensandmanuscripts.com/2022/07/31/lady-jadwiga-of-poland-king-and-saint/ https://historia.org.pl/2020/10/11/malzenstwo-jadwigi-i-jagielly-najbardziej-niepasujaca-do-siebie-para-krolewska-w-polskich-dziejach/ Jadwiga painting The Last Visit of Jadwiga and Wilhelm in the Refectory of the Franciscan Church in Krakow by Florian Cynk, 1869 https://maidensandmanuscripts.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/image-2.png?w=952
